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When Triple J launched 30 years ago as 2JJ, Gayle Austin was there. She looks back at that first crazy year.

It started with a flashback, a reference to the possibilities of the ’60s. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … Houston, we have lift-off” exploded into You Just Like Me ‘Cos I’m Good In Bed by Skyhooks. That Double J’s first song was Australian was our first big political statement. The fact that it was banned on commercial radio?

Well, things were about to change.

It was January 19, 1975, and it seemed all of Sydney was glued to the radio that day. Over at 2SM, the undisputed leading station for young people, DJ Charlie Fox couldn’t believe his ears: “The actual outrage of it. But we loved it. JJ was so radical, because 2SM at the time was playing American formats, which were 20 records over and over again, and that was it.”

Dan Arthur, a listener who later became a record company rep, says: “From day one, Double J was an incredible signifier of hope. Counter-culture at that stage in Australia had really been unfocused, and all of a sudden we had a crucial and central gathering point.”

The idea behind Double J was to set up a collective co-ordinated by Marius Webb and Ron Moss. They were given the job after a meeting with ABC management in October 1974 during which it was explained that the ABC had been given two licences, one of which was for a “youth-style station”. Webb recalls an ABC executive saying: “You’ll be on the air by January. Thank you very much, I’ve got another meeting.”

Word was the Whitlam government wanted to set the station up to woo young voters. We also heard that the ABC was worried about its audience dying off and wanted a station for young people who would grow up to be ABC listeners.

Towards the end of 1974, the first recruitment ads appeared in papers, stressing that a sense of the ridiculous was required. Producer Ted Robinson says: “There was a bit of concern about breaking down what was considered to be ‘an announcer’ in terms of finding ways other than the traditional approach.” Staff were chosen from across the country, with Webb and Moss ensuring a good mix of ABC and commercial people.

I heard about the new station in November, from a colleague at 2UW, where, as the co-ordinator of the talkback callers for John Laws, I had hit the glass ceiling. Radio in those days was like secret men’s business and I was the only woman who applied for an on-air position at Double J. I was given one midnight-to-dawn shift a week, a move so radical that I was the cause of much negative comment after our first survey of listeners. “Why do you have a woman on air? What do women know about music?”

Art attack: The Triple J exploding head symbol (top), and an early Double J poster.

On that first day, TV news cameras, photographers, well-wishers and staff crowded around what later became affectionately known as “The Bunker” – Studio 206 of the old ABC building in Forbes Street, Darlinghurst. A former bomb shelter, it was the perfect birthplace for the ABC’s alternative to Top 20 radio and the first Australian radio station to open in 43 years.

The location of the offices and production booths in William Street was ideal. We were down the road from the squatters, around the corner from the film-makers’ co-op, within walking distance of the inner city’s alternative community. We were in a building that already housed some of the most radical people working for the ABC: the feminists in the Women’s Unit and the radio current affairs show Lateline, headed by former Four Corners renegade Allan Ashbolt. They were generous with their advice on how to stay on the right side of the broadcasting guidelines and still push the barriers.

The aim of Double J was to put our own culture centre-stage. We wanted genuine dialogue with our listeners instead of talking at them in manufactured voices. Our station would be by young people for young people. We wanted to reject the cultural cringe that we had grown up with and which was still very much part of our national identity in 1975. The coffin had been nailed shut on the White Australia Policy only two years earlier.

Our brief was to provide an alternative to the mainstream, with a heavy emphasis on Australian content. We were to provide opportunities for live and recorded performances by young Australian musicians, and play (shock! horror!) album tracks from all the genres of music that weren’t being heard on commercial radio.

Colin Vercoe, who worked for two big record companies, CBS and Festival, before becoming one of Double J’s first music programmers, recalls going to radio stations in the early ’70s with American black music. “In those days it was the early disco stuff and if it was black they just wouldn’t play it.”

Chris Winter, Double J’s original on-air guru, recalls: “There was enormous breadth of music around at the time that one basically heard at parties, or if you scoured the new import stores, or you could read about it in import magazines, but you certainly couldn’t hear it on the radio.”

So we played everything we could get our hands on. We raided the ABC library for our back catalogue, played demo tapes from our listeners, brought records in from home, haunted the import stores and encouraged the ABC’s overseas correspondents to scour the back alleys of the capital cities around the world for treasures.

Double J’s eclectic playlist made the station appear radical, but it was in the talk area that the really radical work was done. Comedy acts such as Chuck Chunder and the Space Patrol, Captain Goodvibes, Nude Radio (Graham Bond and Rory O’Donoghue’s show, which launched Norman Gunston), Fred Dagg (aka John Clarke) and the legendary “anti-ads” informed future program-makers on how humour could be used on radio.

Our documentaries, under the guidance of first-class journalists and producers, made such an impact that at times they threatened to have us taken off the air. On February 23, the documentary The Ins and Outs of Love, by former 2SM producers Carl Tyson-Hall and Tony Poulsen, was aired to a barrage of press, religious and public criticism. We had dared speak about first sexual experiences and had apparently “breached community standards”.

A month later, after a Bulletin report by David McNicoll, the Broadcasting Control Board decided to talk to Aunty about her recalcitrant child. Webb spent a lot of his time in those first years shielding us from such attacks, arguing in this case that the station itself had received a request from a high school for the tape to help students in a personal development program.

It seemed we were always being threatened. In August, the NSW police commissioner, Fred Hanson, filed for $1 million in damages. He declared that a July broadcast claiming he had a financial interest in a gambling club near his home held him up to public hatred, ridicule and contempt. The case eventually went to the Supreme Court and in February 1976 he won the case. The terms were not disclosed but were rumoured to have run to tens of thousands of dollars.

One of my most bizarre memories of 1975 was discovering that our phones were tapped. We also noticed a van permanently parked out the front of the station with darkened windows and two men seated in the front. One of the news team approached them one night and asked who they were. Looking in the back of the van, he noticed a huge amount of recording equipment. The van disappeared the next day, but we still noticed strange clicks on the telephone whenever we rang out, and some of the more high-profile announcers noticed vans parked outside their homes. We were later told by a young person who worked at ASIO that there were files on all of us.

In that first year we had a station policy of access all areas. In early March, women took over the station as announcers to celebrate International Women’s Day. The listeners owned the station, too, and if they wanted to come to the meetings and join the debate, they were welcome. This attitude led to some interesting moments, such as when Holger Brockman’s shift was hijacked by three Aboriginal activists. They entered the studio and said they were armed and hijacking the station. Brockman said: “Oh, OK. Well, that’s the microphone there, and here you are, have my seat.” Brockman says they were really polite. “They said their bit, which took about five or 10 minutes, and then politely handed back to me – ‘And now back to Holger.’ Respectfully, like family.”

Two months after Double J launched, Bob Baeck, the general manager of 3XY, described it as “the lowest form of radio this country has produced”. However, by this time the station had already captured 5.4 per cent of the Sydney audience and 17 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds. It was quite a feat, considering the station’s faulty transmitter meant it could not be heard in many suburbs.

The reception issue was taken up with ABC boss Talbot Duckmanton and officials of the Broadcasting Control Board, but they refused to fix the transmitter. As a result, Double J repeatedly broadcast a recording of Bob Hudson singing Roll Over Duckmanton to the tune of Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven (“I’m writing this letter, going to mail it to Double J. There’s a crackle in my trannie and it just won’t go away. Roll over Duckmanton, get a better transmitter today”). In July, staff threatened to strike unless the transmitter was strengthened but the BCB refused to discuss the issue with station representatives.

As it turned out, we had to wait until we went to FM in 1980 before we got a reasonable transmitter, and that was only about half the strength of those for the new commercial stations 2Day and Triple M. It was only when we were forced to go national, beginning with Melbourne in October 1989, that we were in a position to demand better reception.

By the ’90s, ABC management regarded Triple J as a loose cannon that could sink the struggling ship and rethought its approach to the station.

In 1990, Barry Chapman was brought over from Triple M as general manager and, on August 24, all senior announcers, myself included, were told they would not be keeping their jobs. There was a passionate public response, with protesters holding a 105.7-hour vigil outside the station. An independent inquiry was held, but to no avail. Triple J had moved on to a new chapter and we could only hope the foundations we had built would be strong enough.

Today the Triple J National Youth Network has, arguably, the largest reach of any radio station in the country (apart from Radio National.) It broadcasts to all capital cities and most regional areas, providing a lifeline for Australia’s youth.

Gayle Austin worked at the Jays until the purge of 1990. She has a BA in media, communications and culture studies and is completing an MA (Hons) at Macquarie University. Her thesis is an analysis of Triple J’s first 16 years; feedback from readers would be appreciated to gaylecat@optusnet.com.au

BEN TV !!

What is Ben TV ?

Ben TV is an interactive Gig Guide and Promotional Tool for aspiring Artists. Collectively ran by Ben Howman (Melbourne, Vict., Australia), Paul Gregerson (Hokes Bluff, Alabama, USA), they promote Artist’s and Venues through the resources gathered by the collective on their fortnightly Program.
Mark Gardner, Angela Butler and Ben Howman cover Melbourne.
Mis Divine in Brisbane.
JuZ (The JuZ Show) has a Heavy Metal show also appearing on the channel.bentv@wiya.com.au Online TV show
The show airs every 2nd Tuesday of the month and is dropped in on our facebook page as well as our Wiya page ;

(Wiya stands for – ‘What’s In Your Area.’)

Mis Divine of Brisbane will be getting bands and solo artists out to her Studio’s, doing an interview, perhaps creating a song for her Mis Divine Music Challenge, and promoting one of your originals.

Click Here To Go To Our facebook Page Now !

The Melbourne team is focusing a lot on going to live venues, talking to the entertainers, the crowd and the venue owners.

Nicola Lautré

Nicola Lautré

Nicola is an artist living in Brisbane, Australia. She has a passion for listening to Blues/Rock music and painting in watercolour.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nicola studied art at School and Art College.

Nicola worked in the Advertising Industry for Eight years as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator.

In that time Nicola also developed a passion for watercolour. She did a series of paintings of Alexandra township, and undertook portrait commissions.

Nicola then spent 12 years freelancing for Nestlé. (Southern and Eastern African region)

She designed their chocolate and confectionery packaging.

In 2007 Nicola emigrated to Australia.

Nicola continues to enjoy painting, with a particular interest in figurative work.

Featured In this Article Are Nicola’s Water Colour Painting’s of ;

James Grim, Andrea Marr, Christian Tryhorn and Dallas Frasca.

“Nicola’s Work is refreshing and eerie !

It’s like looking into a mirror with a Photo-shop program on it !

She is has an incredible gift.”

Tom McLeod

Australian Music and Entertainment Scene.

James Grim

Click on Nicola’s Painting To Hear and Buy Music from

The Brothers Grim and The Blue Murders.

“In the modern world of music, few things are as hard to create as something that is truly unique. Indeed, in a shrinking industry that is driven almost entirely by profits, being unique is often considered to be a risky move. Perhaps, then, that is why it is so refreshing to hear a band like Brothers Grim.”
– Matthew Woodward (News Hit)It’s been a long, well-trodden road since 2007 when Brothers Grim and The Blue Murders were first established.The Brother’s unique morphing of the delta-blues finger-styling’s of Bukka White delivered with the boogie of Gene Vincent, the bloodlust of Rose Tattoo and the spectacle of Iggy Pop plus five years of electrifying, lustful and often humorous live performances have fashioned this foursome into a well-loved group that never disappoints.Every mile on every highway, every sweat-soaked performance and every morning awaking in someone’s flower bed has been more than fruitful for the Brothers; converting all who see them, party with them or be-friend them into a rapidly growing community across Australia. It’s hard to talk about Brothers Grim without talking about their fans. In fact, they are almost the same thing, one massive pool of chaos and sweat heaving in a tangled interaction of mutual lust and excitement.Formed in 2007, James and Matt Grim (Guitarist to look out for in 2011 – Australia Guitar Player Magazine) began writing slide-infused songs inspired by the blues music they grew up listening to but delivered with the possession and abandonment of the rock music that inspired their youth. Currently accompanied by the always impressive drumming of Stephen Devlin and now with newest member Dominic Lindus attacking the double bass, their live shows are more gripping than ever.With a sold-out album launch at The Corner Hotel in July 2011 behind them, the MGM release sell out of their debut album A Year To Forget, playing an impressive array of large national venues, performances and invitations to some of Australia’s largest festivals and a new album well under way – it’s hard to see a future as apparent as theirs.

Andrea Marr

Click on Nicola’s Painting To Hear and Buy Music from

Andrea Marr

INTRODUCING: THE PINT SIZED POWERHOUSE OF THE BLUES

Andrea Marr, considered the queen of Australian Blues for her high energy, joyous performances, and clever tongue-in-cheek lyrical content, is proud to announce the release of her first official soul album – the EP “Sass & Brass.” The sound is a combination of soul and blues, filled with the genuine passion of someone who has truly loved and lived this music. It’s a powerfully energetic, brassy, big sound, reminiscent of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Ike & Tina Turner, and the JBs. The album is the result of a second collaboration with co-producer Cam Scott, also Andrea’s keyboard player and arranger for several years. It’s a follow up to her last CD “Little Sister Got Soul,” which peaked at #18 on the Living Blues Radio Charts, and garnered many recognitions and rave reviews, including 2009 Australian Female Blues Artist of the Year. Although short and sweet, Andrea’s new EP serves up a heaping helping of steamy, sultry soul to shake your booty too.

Andrea has been singing blues, soul, and gospel music since 1997. “Sass & Brass” marks her fifth recording overall, and second release in the United States. She’s known for her trademark sultry, sassy, and soulful vocals, and a style that mixes high-energy blues with a Stax styled, big soul sound. Her passion and feeling for music and standout vocal style have earned her many fans; much deserved awards and recognitions, and have taken her and her music all over the world. Andrea plans to tour the US again in the summer of 2013.

Christian Tryhorn. – Transvaal Diamond Syndicate.

Click on Nicola’s Painting To Hear and Buy Music from

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate

Transvaal Diamond Syndicate (TDS) are the manufacturers of some of Australia’s finest foot-stompin’ swamp and dirty blues/rock.”Great guitar riffs with cool and clear lyrics. Bound to get the speakers rattling.” Sydney Daily Telegraph”Fans of Clutch and Ash Grunwald need to sit up and take notice now. Deadly! 5 STARS.” Zoo WeeklyAS FEATURED ON TRIPLE J RADIOPERFORMED AT 2011 BYRON BLUESFESTJuly 2009 saw the beginning of a rapid upwards journey for Transvaal Diamond Syndicate, almost immediately garnering attention for their raw, energetic, exciting and often primeval live shows. Since then, the TDS have only gone from strength to strength, gathering fans left and right from constant touring and performing and engaging with fans through their strong online presence (e.g YouTube – Tuesday Tinnies with TDS).Now it seems all the hard work is paying off – Transvaal Diamond Syndicate’s 2011 was shaped by their inclusion on Australia’s premier Festival, Byron Bay Bluesfest, alongside international acts such as Bob Dylan, Michael Franti & Spearhead and Ben Harper as well as the signing of a record deal with Starving Kids Records/MGM for their latest release. Then followed a 40-date East Coast tour to promote ‘Sins of the Blessed’, their 7 track mini-album which showcases the band’s diversity as it moves and swells through straight blues progressions into half-time rock and rockabilly into stoner groove and dark roots balladry.The 3 single releases thus far have fared well in the market with lead track ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ and straight-blues’ ‘Ol’ Carolina’ receiving Triple J Radio play, along with stoner-anthem ‘I’m Your Ticket’ gaining the # 6 ‘Hottest Track of 2011’ (4ZzZ Radio Brisbane) and ‘top 10 most-requested track on Community Radio’ status in September (AMRAP). ‘Devil on My Shoulder’ made the finalists of the Independent Music Awards (Blues Song Category), an international song competition, and also featured on the 2011 Brisbane Sounds Compilation. The album’s shaping up to be a cracker and was released NATIONWIDE through MGM Distribution, Starving Kids Records and JBHiFi in late 2011. Head into your local JB’s to grab yourself a copy.

Their live show reputation, full of sweaty machismo, catchy hooks, foot-stompin’ beats and tribal expression, has grabbed them support slots including Ash Grunwald, Dallas Frasca, The Snowdroppers, The Fumes, Elliot Brood (Canada), Marshall and the Fro and The Beards. It has also seen them headline over 100 venues around the country.

The September 2010 EP release, Diamonds and Dust also performed well, with track 1 Behind That Smile awarded a 2010 Q-Song Highly Commended spot in the Blues and Roots category whilst track 4 Home was the number 1 song in 4ZzZ’s Hot 100 songs of 2010 and won the Qld Blues Awards ‘Song of the Year’. Home was also in the top 20 purchased singles in the week it was released on iTunes Australia (Blues genre) and has been used in a range of international synch opportunities. TDS also nabbed a top 40 slot in the AMRAP charts for Artists most played on Australian Community Radio in 2010, with Home and Behind That Smile both being in the top 10 overall in numerous weeks in late 2010. They now feature regularly on a large number of radio stations across the country.

2012 has kept the band super busy with a 63 date mammoth tour of the East Coast (Cairns down to Tasmania). The tour promoted the latest single release ‘Pistols at Dawn’ and saw the act clock up over 20,000kms on the trusty tour van (TDS EXPRESS). Add to this 8 confirmed festivals throughout Australia and writing for a new album and you’ll see why they have been tagged as one of the hardest working bands in the country.

The band has another major national tour planned from Feb – July 2013, along with a new full-length release and confirmed festival appearances at Blues on Broadbeach amongst others.

“This is new school blues that is as exciting as it is electric and yet another shining example of the deep and creative roots scene Australia is privy to enjoy.” – Time Off

Dallas Frasca

“Frasca is truley one of Australia’s most inspiring and strong willed female Artists” Reverb Mag

DALLAS FRASCA – BIO

Dallas and her band have just returned from New York with their second full length album in hand, where they worked with Australian producer Andy Baldwin (Bjork, Chrissie Amphlett, Living End, Kram, Cat Empire) at Rola Pola Studio’s in Brooklyn.One of the tracks from the upcoming album has been mixed by the legendary producer Tchad Blake (Black Keys, Elvis Costello, Pearl Jam, Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow, The Dandy Warhols, Gomez) in the south of France. It’s shaping up to be a big year for the Australian Underground retro riff rocker, with “Sound Painter” due for release in 2012.The entire album was recorded live in New York after 4 months of songwriting in Melbourne. Expect slabs of guitar riffage, skin slamming drums and heavy, soulful vocals.Dallas recalls, “Recording in New York, riding our pushies across the WIllamsburg Bridge every day from Manhattan, that change of scene was inspiring. It gave me, Jeff and Pete a chance to be anything we wanted to. You can hear the confidence on the recording we made.”By the age 18 Frasca was on the road, chanelling all the sass and irreverence of Chrissie Amphlett and Suze Demarchi. Armed with power and torque reminiscent of Aretha Franklin and Betty Davis her stand out voice didn’t take long to get noticed. After developing nodules and being forced not to sing for 18 months she turned her gaze to the guitar, and her evolution was complete.In 2006, she won triple j’s “Light Your Fuse” competition from over 500 entries. Her career exploded from there. Dallas won the 2010 ‘Artist Of The Year’ at the Musicoz Awards and her album was voted in the ‘top ten’ best roots releases on JJJ in 2009. She has also stormed the stages at countless major festivals (Big Day Out, Falls, Bluesfest, Pyramid Rock, Festival of the Sun, Queenscliff, Southbound, and major French festival – Blues Passion Cognac). The bands tribal and stomping roots performances have earned them a large, loyal fan base.

In 2008 Dallas sang for Aussie Alt-Rock royalty Midnight Oil in Sydney, in support of Amnesty International.

In early 2009 Dallas was invited to perform as one of seven artists from seven continents of the planet for International Earth Day in Montreal. It not only allowed her the thrill of holding a dialogue with fellow-artists about social and environmental issues, but she caught the ear of Canadian promoters who have invited her to come back and tour there.

One very loud woman stands out musically and vocally from the rest. Independent of major labels, trends and a bullshit industry that all to often is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

Dallas Frasca is a hard working independent juggernaut who, with this yet to be released album, is carving the way with her band in Australia and internationally.

“Currently one of the most successful independent musicians in Australia.”
Time Off

“If you like your rock molten, monolithic and propelled by passion and authenticity, it’s time to tune into Dallas Frasca.”
Beat Magazine

“Frasca’s voice seems to be getting more versatile and refined – she has the makings of a superstar.”
Inpress Magazine

Australian Music and Entertainment Scene.

(AMES)

We (AMES) have Media Information and Fan Pages on most Social Networks. If artists post a link or play list we will invite them to join our Industry Only Networking Group. From there we will promote you on our 10 Internationally Synced Sites. For Free !

“AMES” is devoted to the encouragement of Australian Artists. We encourage Fellowship and Mentorship within these Networks. Artists might well find the help they need amongst their peer’s in here.

“AMES” finds and offers Artists opportunities on it’s pages. You may – or may not, decide to take up these opportunities. We try to check out all contributors by ABN and APRA / AMCOS numbers before posting. Unfortunately some unscrupulous opportunist’s sometimes slip by. A good rule of thumb is to never to expect something for free. Also make sure that you know who you are dealing with. You would not be acting professionally if you didn’t know.

From Time To Time We Do A Compilation Album Of Unsigned an Original Artist’s Within Our Membership.

This is our Last CD, You Can Support Australian Music By Clicking On The Link Below.

All Proceeds Go To The Artists.

There is no profit going to AMES for this.

We ( AMES ) offer you the opportunities. However, we can not be held responsible for your actions, or for those by the persons you you might choose to apply to through it’s pages.

By posting your link to “AMES” it will increase your hit’s to your links, possibly improve your Digital Playlist Sales and give you the contacts you need etc..

AMES gets 900,500 hit’s each month on facebook alone.

Conservatively on all 10 World Wide Web Pages we have a viewing of over 5 1/2 million hit’s a month. (World Wide)

That is more than most monthly online magazines !

We also have an “Industry Only” Networking Group. This is your haven away from Fan’s enabling you to Network and help each other.

2013 is the 7th year of AMES and the Database of Australian Musicians has grown incredibly. We have been able to help Artists, Entertainers, Promoters, Managers, Production Personel … in fact anyone within the Industry because we have been able to consolidate them in one place and direct them appropriately when we are asked for help.